"Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be men". – 1 Corinthians 14:20

Pope Francis Hooks Up With Kenneth Copeland – Luther Got it Wrong?

Is Pope Francis taking steps that are laying the groundwork for the emergence of a one world religion?

Image: Pope Francis (Wikimedia Commons).

The global economy is more integrated than it has ever been before, and with each passing year new economic treaties tie us even more closely together. And “global governance” (as the elite like to call it) is also steadily gaining ground. Through a whole host of global institutions such as the United Nations, the World Bank, the IMF and the Bank for International Settlements, global governments are working together to a degree that is unprecedented.

Well, what about religion? Are we witnessing the globalization of religion? Well, yes… In fact, it appears that Pope Francis intends to lead the way.

Since he has been Pope, Francis has expressed a desire for unity with the Eastern Orthodox, the Anglicans, and many other major Protestant denominations. But more than a few eyebrows were raised when he recently sent a video message to Kenneth Copeland and his congregation.

Pope Francis met January 14 2014 with Anthony Palmer; but at the time the Vatican released no details regarding the meeting. Today (20/02/2014) though, YouTube shows Pope Francis in a newly-released video which was captured by Palmer via his iPhone.

In the video, which has not been released by the Vatican, Pope Francis says to the Pentecostals at a meeting of Kenneth Copeland Ministries in the United States, “Let’s give each other a spiritual hug.”

The video, which Bishop Tony Palmer said he took with his iPhone, begins in English with the pope apologizing that he will have to switch to Italian, although mostly, he said, he would speak from the heart, which is “a more simple, more authentic language.”

Addressing Palmer as “my brother, a bishop-brother” and saying they had “been friends for years,” the pope offered what he said were greetings “both joyful and full of longing” to participants in a forthcoming meeting of the Kenneth Copeland Ministries, a Pentecostal group that sponsors large prayer gatherings around the world.

The joy, the pope said, comes from knowing that “the Lord is working all over the whole world.”

But he said he is full of longing because Christians are still separated, “separated because of sin, our sins.”

“Who is at fault?” he asked. “All of us are, we are all sinners. There is only one who is just and that is the Lord.”

Pope Francis said he longs for the day when “this separation would end and there would be communion.”

“Let’s allow our longing to increase so that it propels us to find each other, embrace each other and to praise Jesus Christ as the only Lord of history,” the pope said.

The video begins with Palmer telling a Pentecostal gathering about the importance of Christian unity for preaching salvation in Christ to the world.

Palmer said that theCatholic-Protestant divisions have had no reason to exist since the 1999 Catholic-Lutheran Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. The agreement recognized that “by grace alone, in faith in Christ’s saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works.”

“We are not protesting the doctrine of salvation (taught) by the Catholic Church anymore,” he said. “We now preach the same Gospel.”

The Catholic Church has celebrated the agreement on justification and other ecumenical agreements, while insisting that further
progress must be made to resolve other differences before there is full unity and sacramental sharing. Those differences include how different Christians view the sacraments and how they see the role of the papacy.

“The Catholic and Charismatic Renewal is the hope of the Church,” exclaims Anglican Episcopal Bishop Tony Palmer, before a group of cheering followers at the Kenneth Copeland Ministries.Palmer said those words are from the Vatican. Before playing the video message from Pope Francis to Kenneth Copeland, Palmer told the crowd, “When my wife saw that she could be Catholic, and Charismatic, and Evangelical, and Pentecostal, and it was absolutely accepted in the Catholic Church, she said that she would like to reconnect her roots with the Catholic culture. So she did.”

The crowd cheered, as he continued, “Brothers and sisters, Luther’s protest is over. Is yours?”

Even Kenneth Copeland finds this development incredible: Said Copeland, “Heaven is thrilled over this…You know what is so thrilling to me? When we went into the ministry 47 years ago, this was impossible.”

You can see video from this conference

So is Luther’s protest really over?

During the Council of Trent, the Catholics condemned to hell anyone that believes in salvation through faith in Jesus alone. This is a direct quote from the Council of Trent…

“If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema“

The Catholics have never renounced that stand. Instead, it has been reaffirmed many times over the years.

If Pope Francis really did want to reach out to Protestants, he should start by reversing the Council of Trent on this. As it stands, it is official Catholic doctrine that all Protestants are anathema.

But apparently that is not going to stop many Protestants from reuniting with Rome and declaring Francis to be “their Pope”.

Yet Kenneth Copeland stands up at the end of the Pope’s speech (on the above clip_) to say that he agrees with the Pope’s quest and heart sentiments [11mins 20sec ] and that they prayed for him, and then recorded a short Iphone video clip saying that ‘the leaders gathered here represent tens of thousands that love you, that believe God with you’, and we prayed in the spirit, and believed that we received…..we receive your blessing, it is very very important to us….”

The most offensive part of his liturgy was that he (Copeland) blessed the pope saying ‘we bless you with all our heart, mind, and soul.’ At one point I thought he was talking to our Heavenly Father, but I did a double take, only to realise he was speaking to the Vicar of Christ!!!

This is a blasphemous benediction!

Copeland has cursed himself and all his followers by his words, placing his movement under the shadow of the Papacy!

I then greet and cordially thank you all, dear friends belonging to other religious traditions; first of all the Muslims, who worship the one God, living and merciful, and call upon Him in prayer, and all of you. I really appreciate your presence: in it I see a tangible sign of the will to grow in mutual esteem and cooperation for the common good of humanity.The Catholic Church is aware of the importance of promoting friendship and respect between men and women of different religious traditions – I wish to repeat this: promoting friendship and respect between men and women of different religious traditions – it also attests the valuable work that the Pontifical Council for interreligious dialogue performs.

Did you catch that?

Apparently Pope Francis believes that Catholics and Muslims worship the same God. It really doesn’t matter what you believe!

“We must never forget that they ‘profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, who will judge humanity on the last day.’”

By making this statement, Pope Francis is rejecting another of the most fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith.

You see, Christians believe that Jesus Christ is God.

Muslims hate this doctrine and say that there is no god but Allah.

So how in the world can Christians and Muslims worship the same God?

The only way that you could say this is if you deny the deity of Jesus Christ.

For much more on why “Allah” and the God of Christianity are not the same, please see this article.

Of course when it comes to other religions, Francis is not just reaching out to the Muslims. During the same ecumenical meeting that I referenced above, he made it a point to say that he feels “close” to those that belong “to any religious tradition”…

In this, we feel close even to all those men and women who, whilst not recognizing themselves belonging to any religious tradition, feel themselves nevertheless to be in search of truth, goodness and beauty, this truth, goodness and beauty of God, and who are our precious allies in efforts to defend the dignity of man, in building a peaceful coexistence among peoples and in guarding Creation carefully.

And Francis really raised some eyebrows when he made the following statement about atheists…

“The Lord created us in His image and likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and He does good and all of us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not do evil. All of us. ‘But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can… The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone!.. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.”

There was a lot of debate about what Francis meant by that, and the Vatican issued a statement declaring that Catholic doctrine on these matters had not changed, but without a doubt a lot of people were troubled by this.

In addition, a lot of people were really troubled when the Vatican offered “indulgences” to those that would follow Pope Francis on Twitter. The following is an excerpt from an article that appeared in the Telegraph…

Salvation – or at least a shorter stay in Purgatory – might now be only a tweet away with news that Pope Francis is to offer “indulgences” – remissions for temporary punishment – to the faithful who follow him on the social media site.Around 1.5 million are expected to flock to Rio de Janeiro to celebrate World Youth Day with the Argentine pontiff later this month. But for those who can’t make it to Brazil, forgiveness may be available to contrite sinners who follow Francis’s progress via their TV screen or social networks.The Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican court that rules on the forgiveness of sins, has said that indulgences may be given to those who follow the “rites and pious exercises” of the event on television, radio and through social media.

So what does Pope Francis actually believe?

That is a very good question.

His beliefs do not appear to be very consistent at all. He just seems to have an overwhelming desire to “unite” with everyone out there that has any kind of religious faith.

“In ideologies there is not Jesus: in his tenderness, his love, his meekness. And ideologies are rigid, always. Of every sign: rigid. And when a Christian becomes a disciple of the ideology, he has lost the faith: he is no longer a disciple of Jesus, he is a disciple of this attitude of thought… For this reason Jesus said to them: ‘You have taken away the key of knowledge.’ The knowledge of Jesus is transformed into an ideological and also moralistic knowledge, because these close the door with many requirements. The faith becomes ideology and ideology frightens, ideology chases away the people, distances, distances the people and distances of the Church of the people. But it is a serious illness, this of ideological Christians. It is an illness, but it is not new, eh?”

So what is going to come of all this?

It will be very interesting to watch.

It is also interesting to note that there is a 900-year-old prophecy that seems to indicate that Pope Francis could be the last Pope. If that prophecy is accurate, then we could very well be living at a time when we will see the emergence of a one world religion.

Just a few short decades ago, a one world religion would have been absolutely unthinkable.

But now the pieces are starting to come together, and it will be very interesting to see what happens next.